Case Number 24009: Small Claims Court

THE RACONTEURS: LIVE AT MONTREAUX 2008 (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

Steady as she goes!

The Case

If you're only casually acquainted with guitar weirdo/virtuoso Jack White (of
The White Stripes fame), you may not have heard of The Raconteurs, Jack's
post-Stripes, much-hyped super group featuring fellow Detroit roots-rocker
Brendan Benson. Over two albums, The Raconteurs found moderate mainstream
success and a pretty warm critical reception based on their folk-cum-garage band
sound and the strength of some catchy-as-hell singles. Seeing them playing the
much lauded Montreaux Jazz and Blues festival struck me as a bit of an odd fit
at first, then I popped the disc in.

The Raconteurs: Live at Montreaux 2008 features a healthy
cross-section of material culled from both albums...

Things start off a little dicey, maybe even a little too raw for a band
known for rawness, but by the third track the band has hit its stride, and
things flow beautifully from there on out. The Raconteurs are so much more than
the sum of their parts, and Jack White ably proves that there's much more
dimension to him as both a player and a frontman than the whole White Stripes
candy-striped freakshow would have you believe. The wide-open jams, toe tapping
rhythms, and energetic performance on display here is more akin to Led Zeppelin
or The Who without all the pomp and pageantry. There's a loose groove to The
Raconteurs, like a speeding car whose wheels could fly off at any minute, and
you keep waiting for that crash, but it never comes. The band skirts ragged
edges, tosses folksy solo breakdowns and fiddle bits in alongside simple chord
progressions and rough and tumble harmonies. There's a feeling of spontaneity
and creativity in the music that fits right in. These showmen prove their worth
and then some; they are all about Montreaux, and they fit like a velvet
glove.

Eagle Rock provides its typically rock solid product with a wonderfully
natural, beautifully clear 1080i image and several sound choices. My personal
preference was the room-filling DTS-HD Master Audio mix, but the Linear PCM
Stereo track has just a little more oomph to it. There are no extras outside of
the essay present in the enclosed booklet.